The Eastern Enlargement of the EU - An Initial Assessment: Growing Imports to the New Member States from the Euro Zone (original) (raw)
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EU Eastern Enlargement :Economic Effects on New Members 2000~2012
Journal of Economic Integration, 2014
The European Union (EU) has a splendid record concerning enlargement. Judging by the increasing number of EU member countries, enlargement has been the most successful EU policy ever. The economic side of its eastern enlargement is, however, a hybrid bag of effects for the EU's eastern countries because membership in the EU is not a tide that lifts all boats. This article, as a statistical primer, provides consistent data for the period 2000~2012. Majority of data is from Eurostat, where the data on eastern EU member countries are scattered around in various parts of Eurostat database. In the effort to present the data in a consolidated and straightfoward way to reveal the real economic effects on enlargement on the new EU member countries, we took the task
Editors' introduction. The new EU enlargement
Revue de l'OFCE, 2004
The presence of eight Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs hereafter) among the ten newcomers is particularly striking: these countries have had to make a giant step from centrally planned to market economies over an incredibly short time period. Accession to EU may thus be seen as a legitimate reward for countries which have undertaken a profound change in their political and economic structures. EU accession has been conditional on countries fully respecting the so-called "Copenhagen criteria", i.e. (i) "stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the respect for and protection of minorities"; (ii) "the existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union"; (iii) "ability to take on the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union". The political agenda for successful accession was therefore really demanding for countries where the "markets" were formerly almost inexistent, administered price setting was the rule, trade and financial relations were highly centralised and regulated, and incentives were generally geared towards meeting the "plan" targets. Although major improvements have occurred, most of the CEECs are still in a transition phase towards a market economy. For instance, administered prices, despite a steep reduction, always represent a non negligible share of the consumer price index in countries like Hungary. Moreover, notwithstanding recent good performances as regards GDP growth rates, most notably in comparison with the EU average, the CEECs are substantially lagging behind EU-15 in terms of GDP per capita. In Estonia,
Central European Economic Journal, 2021
The paper analyses the economic implications of the accession of New Member States (NMS) to the European Union (EU) in 2004 and 2007. The estimation effects of integration with the EU were carried out as a comparative case study using the synthetic control method (SCM) proposed by Abadie and Gardeazabal. Compared to previous studies analysing the effects of accession to the EU (Campos, Coricelli and Moretti), we check for the importance of the quality of economic institutions for the matching process of the analysed economies with their comparators. The results of the econometric analysis show a positive impact on the country performance 6 years and 12 years after accession to the EU. The gains from accession are large but not universal. For 5 of the 10 analysed countries the difference in levels of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) against the counterfactual is at least 30%.
European Economic Review, 1997
The paper analyses the major challenges for macroeconomic policies and institutions of Central and East European countries raised by accession. The analysis starts by proposing an interpretation of the economic conditions that the CECs would need to satisfy in order to become members of the European Union. The paper then proceeds to discuss the acquis communautuire in the area of EMU which the new members will have to implement, at least as non-participating countries. It is argued that EMU should not be an immediate target for the majority of the Associated Countries (ACs). The successful conclusion of the transformation calls for a certain degree of flexibility in the conduct of economic policy which the adoption of too strict criteria could actually prevent. This does not mean that the effort to follow sound economic policies should be discontinued. The paper simply concludes that a too short policy horizon should not constrain the ACs' ability to converge or to undertake macroeconomic stability-oriented policies in the future. 0 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.
Applied Econometrics and International …, 2004
In this paper we intended to analyse the effects that the incorporation of the candidate states to the EU will have over their economies. As far as the EU has evolved towards a single market, we studied their foreign trade with the EU member states (intra and inter industrial trade…). We also studied the role that foreign direct investment (FDI) has played in these countries. As a stone yard, we used the evolution of the countries that joined the UE in previous enlargements processes and that, at that moment, had also an unfavourable economic situation.
The Eastward Enlargement of the Eurozone - State of the Art Report
2002
European Monetary Union (EMU) and its enlargement to prospective members in central and eastern Europe is a politically highly desired process, given that everything works out smoothly. The future eurozone will show a much higher degree of heterogeneity than now. The CEEC are in the process of transition from a planned to a market economy. Despite considerable progress during the past decade, much remains to be done in economic, social, and political terms. However, it is important to note that monetary integration is not a stand alone project, but is preceded by the EU enlargement and its obligation to adopt the acquis communautaire. Both events will be mutually reinforcing: The acquis contains numerous rules and institutions to be followed or created by the prospective members, albeit enforcement will be a problem. The success of the eastward enlargement of the eurozone depends on these institutions and, thus, increases the costs of failure. On the other hand, a successfully intro...
The costs and benefits of eastern enlargement: the impact on the EU and central Europe
Economic Policy, 1997
War architecture. Keeping the eastern countries out seriously endangers their economic transition, and economic failure in the east could threaten peace and prosperity in western Europe. The perceived economic costs and benefits will dictate the enlargement's timing. There are four parts to the calculus -the costs and the benefits in the east and in the west. Here we break new ground in estimating the economic benefits of enlargement for east and west using simulations in a global applied general equilibrium model. Our analysis includes a scenario in which joining the EU significantly reduces the risk premium on investment in the east -with resulting huge benefits to the new entrants. We also review the existing literature on the EU budget costs and arrive at a surprisingly well-determined 'consensus' estimate, which we support with a new political economy analysis of the budget. The bottom line is unambiguous and strongly positive: enlargement is a very good deal for both the EU incumbents and the new members. E U e n l a r g e m e n t S m a l l c o s t s f o r t h e w e s t , b i g g a i n s f o r t h e e a s t